New Beetle Species Discovered in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains

Lampromeloe pantherinus. This is the name of the new species that researchers have discovered in the Atlas Mountains. A name that pays tribute to the last known wild Barbary lion, shot in 1942 at the Tizi n’Tchika pass where the beetles live. While they thought they had come across a similar variant of a vesicular beetle, they realized it was a new species after conducting DNA tests and observing its physical appearance, including the male genitalia, its wings and its pronotum - the plate-like structure covering the top of its body. This species is actually a beetle resembling a panther due to its wings, according to a study published on January 4 in the European Journal of Taxonomy.

The study will specify that the collected beetle specimens are endowed with a unique elytral structure, which are their front wings. According to the researchers, the "large and shiny" spot pattern on the creature’s elytra "somewhat recalls the fur pattern of a leopard". Without functional flying wings, these insects live in open habitats such as meadows, fields and forest edges. According to the scientists’ explanations, they generally live in medium to high altitude areas. The new species is indeed known in the Atlas Mountains and in "adjacent areas", they added.